The chairperson of the Termination for Medical Reasons group has welcomed a decision by the Minister for Health to allow doctors to refer women who have pregnancies, where there is a diagnosis of a life-limiting condition, for an abortion abroad before the end of this year.

In a statement to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Simon Harris said he wants to allow certain parts of the legislation to come into effect in advance of services beginning in January.

Campaigners calling for buffer zones to prevent harassment and abuse of women accessing abortion centres are expecting a Home Office announcement within weeks.

The Labour MP Rupa Huq, who leads a cross-party campaign calling for national legislation following the model of the UK’s first abortion clinic safe zone in Ealing, west London, said the home secretary had pledged an announcement in September.

No abortion legislation until court challenges concluded
Three court cases have delayed introduction of law to regulate pregnancy termination

Sun, Aug 12, 2018
Sarah Bardon Political Reporter

The Government will not introduce any legislation to implement the outcome of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment until court challenges to the result have concluded.

Reports emerged this weekend that Minister for Health Simon Harris was considering introducing an interim law to assist women who have received a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality and to decriminalise women who procure an abortion.

Foreign Minister Soini riles fellow politicians with anti-abortion comments
Timo Soini has again made public comments about his opposition to abortion; a move that many of his colleagues in Finnish politics believe is inappropriate.

Aug 11, 2018

Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini has once again set off a storm of indignation in Finland after writing a blog entry on Thursday praising Argentina for its decision to keep abortion illegal.

"Argentina is a lovely country. The Pope is an Argentinean who is widely listened to and respected. Words have weight," he wrote in his popular online journal on August 9.

GENEVA (10 August 2018) – UN human rights experts* expressed deep regret that the Argentinian Senate rejected a bill which would have legalised abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, calling the decision a missed opportunity to advance women’s rights in the country.

“The Senate’s vote has failed women in Argentina and more widely, in a region which has generally very restrictive laws in terms of termination of pregnancy,” the experts said.

After months of debates and a close favorable vote by the Argentine House in June, the Argentine Senate has voted down a bill that would have legalized abortion. Despite House support and a large feminist mobilization on behalf of the bill, the Senate — which over-represents the votes of rural and conservative constituencies — rejected the bill, 38 to 31.

Here are five things to know about the politics of legalizing abortion in Argentina.

Police in Keroka, Nyamira County detained two women over abortion-related crimes.

Keroka police boss Eliud Muchira said the two women were seized on Friday evening from a house in Nyankoba village while in the company of two high school students who were allegedly attempting to procure illegal abortion.

Pro-Abortion-Rights Activists Won in Ireland, But Not Argentina
Efforts to loosen restrictive laws in the two Catholic-majority countries resulted in two very different outcomes.

Yasmeen Serhan
Aug 10, 2018

When Ireland voted in its historic referendum in May to overturn its decades-old ban on abortion, it looked as if more change could follow. If Ireland voted to liberalize abortion access, maybe Northern Ireland would be next. And after that, who knows? The Irish referendum proved that even a Catholic-majority country was ready to have the debate. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before others would do the same.

Another vote on abortion did come three months later, this time to Argentina. But this Catholic-majority country decided differently. On Thursday, Argentina’s Senate voted down a bill to decriminalize abortion access in the country, where terminations are legal only in cases of rape or if the pregnancy poses a risk to the life of the woman. The proposed legislation, which would have allowed women to seek an abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, was supported by 31 lawmakers but rejected by 38. Two abstained.

Late Wednesday night, Argentina’s Senate voted against legalizing abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. After a marathon 16-hour debate, senators decided to reject a law that would have saved countless lives. For now, people who need to terminate pregnancies in Argentina will have to continue to risk death or incarceration.

But something has irrevocably changed.

That night, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly women, stood together in the streets outside the Senate in Buenos Aires. We stood there for hours in the rain, wearing the emerald green handkerchiefs that have become the symbol of the pro-choice movements that are sweeping Latin America.

Argentina’s women have not been beaten on abortion – change will come
The ‘senadores percha’ who voted against legalisation have won a hollow victory but cannot stand in the way of progress

Claudia Piñeiro
Fri 10 Aug 2018

Argentina’s senators could not understand what was being debated: legal abortion or clandestine abortion? Or they did not want to understand? Thirty-eight senators voted for the absolute rejection of a bill to allow legal termination, without showing any willingness to introduce changes or improve the proposals. They simply said “no” – as if they were judges instead of legislators. They showed an arrogant attitude, absolutely detached from a reality in Argentina where there are women who die every year from complications arising after clandestine abortions.

To reject the bill, they pronounced all kind of barbarities from their seats: proclaiming that they were saving embryos, without explaining how, and even suggesting that intrafamily rape does not imply violence.